Astarta, Ukraine’s largest sugar producer, has successfully passed certification under the Canada Organic Regime standard and received a Canadian organic certificate for its products – organic chickpeas and high oleic organic sunflower, the company’s press service reported on Facebook.
“This expands our export opportunities and strengthens Ukraine’s position as a supplier of quality organic products on the world stage,” Vyacheslav Chuk, the agricultural holding’s director of commercial and strategic marketing, said in a statement.
As noted, the certification confirms that the production process complies with international organic standards, which include the use of renewable resources, safe technologies for people and the environment, animal welfare, prohibition of GMOs and prevention of environmental pollution.
“Demand for organic products is growing globally, and Canada is one of the largest importers of organic products. The certificate gives us access to new markets that recognize this standard,” explained Chuk.
“Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding company operating in eight regions of Ukraine. It comprises six sugar factories, agricultural enterprises with a land bank of 220 thousand hectares and dairy farms with 22 thousand cattle, an oil extraction plant in Globyno (Poltava region), seven elevators and a biogas complex.
In 2023, the agricultural holding reduced its net profit by 5.0% to EUR 61.9 million, and its EBITDA decreased by 6.1% to EUR 145.77 million, while revenue increased by 21.3% to EUR 618.93 million.
“Kernel, one of Ukraine’s largest agricultural holdings, intends to strategically adjust its crop mix for the 2025 harvest during the spring sowing campaign to align with its more sustainable practices that were maintained before the full-scale war in Ukraine.
According to the quarterly report published on the company’s website on Friday, Kernel plans to allocate about 168 thousand hectares for corn, which is twice as much as in the 2024 season and will account for 49% of its total production area.
At the same time, the agroholding plans to reduce sunflower acreage by 34%, to 44 thou hectares (or 13% of the crop structure). The agricultural holding explained this decision by further optimizing land use and restoring long-term agronomic sustainability.
“In 2025, Kernel will also reduce its soybean acreage to 27 thou hectares, while a year earlier it had 72 thou hectares under soybeans.
“As of the date of the report, winter crops – including 95 thou hectares of winter wheat and 3.45 thou hectares of rapeseed – are in generally good condition, with no significant risks beyond the usual seasonal factors at this stage,” the agricultural holding summarized.
Kernel is the world’s largest exporter of sunflower oil, one of the largest producers and sellers of bottled oil in Ukraine. In addition, it is engaged in the cultivation and sale of agricultural products.
In FY2024, Kernel’s net profit decreased by 44% compared to FY2023 to $167.95 million, while revenue increased by 4% to $3.581 billion and EBITDA decreased by 30% to $381 million.
The sunflower processing in Ukraine in December, atypically for this period, decreased and amounted to about 1 mln tonnes, which is 17% lower than in November and the lowest figure for December since 2014, APK-Inform news agency reported.
“Among the key factors of influence is the rather strict policy of restraining the sale of raw materials by farmers due to the reduction of sunflower production, which led to a significant reduction in oilseed stocks at the enterprises,” the analysts said.
Given the continued downward price dynamics in the export market of sunflower oil, some of the mills suspended operations in December until the price environment improves. At the same time, a number of companies temporarily switched to soybean processing, APK-Inform stated.
Sunflower prices increased last week and fluctuated in the range of 25-27.5 thsd UAH/t CPT, due to the activity of purchases and the amount of supply of raw materials on the market, according to the analytical cooperative “Start”, created within the framework of the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council. “A number of companies reported fairly good receipts of the oilseed, while some small enterprises suspended operations until the price situation on the market improved,” the analysts said. According to their information, prices for sunflower oil in the domestic market continued to grow, while prices for sunflower meal continued to decline significantly. Processors, trying to balance in such a situation, in some cases refused to sell the meal on the domestic market, while oil was offered at rather high prices, but left the market, they stated.
In Ukraine, sunflower prices have approached the historical price maximum of 25-27 thousand UAH/ton of CPT, according to APK-Inform news agency.
“There are already the first small enterprises that have switched from sunflower processing to alternative crops due to high prices, but other oilseeds are not so good,” the analysts said, adding that many processors report the margin is almost non-existent.
Large plants can afford to work in the red for some time, while small processing companies will either have to stop working until the price situation improves or switch to processing other oilseeds, APK-Inform stated.
The prices of sunflower seeds in Ukraine increased significantly last week, reaching the highest level since the end of May 2021, with the official purchase prices of processors reaching 22.5-24.5 thsd UAH/ton CPT, APK-Inform news agency reported.
“The companies reported that the supply of the oilseed slightly increased, but still remained insufficient. Therefore, those who needed urgent replenishment of stocks to fulfill the contractual obligations for oilseeds raised the prices more actively (up to +1000 UAH/ton) compared to the week before and were ready to pay extra for large volumes and oil content,” the analysts said.
Experts emphasized that the growth of prices for raw materials is facilitated by the increase in the cost of sunflower oil on foreign markets. At the same time, more and more crushers report that the profitability of processing is low or almost non-existent.
Last week, the demand prices for sunflower oil in the ports of Ukraine increased by 20-30 USD/ton and reached the highest level since January 2023 – 1020-1025 USD/ton CPT port.
APK-Inform reminded that the historical price maximum for sunflower oil in Ukraine was recorded in March 2021 – 25.5-27.4 thsd UAH/ton CPT.
